Can I charge from low voltages with an Adafruit Powerboost Charger?

Discussion Electronics
1

I’m planning an off-grid charging project, which will use a variety of power sources (USB, solar, foot crank etc.) to charge an on-board LiPo battery. Then, there’ll be a USB port, and I can plug in a phone or whatever and charge it.

I could use an Adafruit Powerboost 500/1000 to just get 5v from the various sources, which could potentially be quite low (i.e. if I’m using the solar panel and it’s cloudy). However, this won’t charge a LiPo battery. The Powerboost 500C/1000C will charge a battery, but want a micro USB input with which to do so.

Will the 500C/1000C models charge a battery if I give them, say, 2 or 3 volts through the micro USB as an input? In other words, does the micro USB on the 500C/1000C have similar circuitry to the power input on the 500/1000?

Or would I have to get a 500/1000 to step up the voltage first, and then put that into the 500C/1000C to do the charging?

Thanks,
Archie

2

Hey Archie,

I’m not sure of the answer to that question - I’d recommend posting it on the Adafruit forums to see if they know!